We read in the news that Michael Williamson, a former Health Services union boss and a former Australian Labour Party president, has been sentenced to 7 and half years in jail for fraud. (Yahoo!7 news 29/3).
The judge said Williamson was in a position of power when he defrauded the union of nearly $1 million.He described Williamson ‘s “parasitic plundering” as “pure greed”.
At the time of the commission of his offences Williamson had an income of around $500,000.
In his position Williamson “exercised extreme power” to profit himself ,
People in Fiji would no doubt have noticed how some who exercise the same kind of extreme power here – in the unions and government – also abuse that power for their personal gain.
We have good examples of this phenomenon – both pre- 2006 coup and post-2006 coup.